Colchester United have drawn 2-2 against Charlton after an exciting game at the Maldon Stadium, a brace from Bradley Ihionvien was enough to earn a point for the U’s in a match that was on a knife edge for ninety minutes.
In the fourteenth minute the U’s went 1-0 thanks to a fantastic ball over the top by Billy Cracknell, which landed just in front of the charging striker, Ihionvien didn’t need a touch, he let the ball do the work and slip it past the Charlton ‘keeper who was rushing out to claim the ball.
In the early exchanges the U’s had the better chances, good work from Ryan Lowe pressing high up the pitch allowed Ihionvien to have another chance nine minutes later, the forward brushed off a defender and put the ball into a dangerous area, however it looked like the U’s players in the box were expecting him to shoot as no one attacked the ball.
Two minutes later the U’s had the ball in the box again, Harvey Sayer made a great run into the box and fizzed the ball towards goal. Oscar Thorne tapped it home from close range however the linesman on the far side deemed him to be in an offside position, and raised his flag.
Harrison Chamberlain was in fine form again today, and in the thirty-third minute he pulled off a fantastic save, the Charlton forward found himself one-on-one with the U’s ‘keeper, but Chamberlain reacted well and stopped what looked like a certain goal.
However, Chamberlain’s heroics could only last for ten minutes, Charlton equalised with two minutes to go before half time after a fantastic move, Chamberlain could only push the ball onto the bar as he attempted to keep the shot out, the ball bounced agonisingly over the line and the U’s were pinned back.
The second half started in a different way to the first, Charlton piled on the pressure early on and had the best of the chances in the first twenty-minutes. Some brilliant defending from Billy Cracknell and some more saves from the man in goal kept the scores level. Charlton also had the ball in the back of the net in the sixty-first minute, but once again the assistant deemed their player to be offside and the goal was disallowed.
Jayden Fevrier will be walking away from this game feeling gutted that he didn’t managed to score. The forward took a free kick from around thirty yards out in the seventieth minute and his shot smashed into the crossbar. One minute later, after a good run from Kai Redgrave and an even better pass, Fevrier had another go from the edge of the box, this time it smashed off the post. Charlton then hit the bar three minutes later after a looping shot beat Chamberlain, but not the top of the goal.
The visitors took the lead in the eighty-fourth minute after a lot of pressure. They had a couple of corners in a row and one of them was only half cleared, they managed to get the ball in a dangerous area and shovel the ball into the back of the net.
However, the U’s were only losing for two minutes as great pressure from T’aizo Marcel Dilaver and Ihionvien allowed the latter to pick the pocket of the Charlton defender and attack the goal, and of course, he made no mistake with the finish and the U’s equalised.
2-2 on the day and a point each for Charlton and Dave Huzzey’s side.
Starting XI:
- Harrison Chamberlain 2. Kai Redgrave 3. Al-Amin Kazeem 4. Ryan Lowe (Bayan Aman) 5. Billy Cracknell 6. Trialist 7. Oscar Thorne 8. Kaan Bennett 9. Bradley Ihionvien 10. Jayden Fevrier 11. Harvey Sayer (T’aizo Marcel Dilaver)
Unused Substitutes:
Jayden Peglar, Bailey Berry, Kennedy Mupomba